The state of emergency declared for the territory’s wastewater system by the Turnbull administration earlier this week was followed Thursday by plans for a new $30 million treatment plant on St. Thomas.
The state of emergency was declared to let the Public Works Department "obtain supplies, materials, equipment and contractual services necessary for the repair of the public sewer system in the open market, without advertising for public competitive bidding requirements."
A Government House release Thursday said the Property and Procurement Department will solicit bids from construction companies for the Mangrove Lagoon plant on March 25. The new plant, which is scheduled to take two years to complete, will replace five smaller wastewater-treatment plants that serve the Old Tutu, New Tutu, Nadir, Donoe and Bovoni housing communities.
According to Government House, the project has been approved by the local Coastal Zone Management and has been under review by the Army Corps of Engineers for three years. The plant will enable the territory to meet federal Clean Water Act requirements, which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. District court mandated in a 1995 consent decree.
Gov. Charles Turnbull said he had directed the commissioners of Public Works, Property and Procurement, Health, Finance and Justice, as well as the heads of other agencies, to cooperate in instituting the emergency procedures at Public Works.
